Jul. 16th, 2016

Jul. 16th, 2016

I am sous vide-ing pork chops for dinner, which is going to take about an hour. I'd planned to clean up the utter disaster that is my kitchen while that happened, but then I fumble-fingered an 8 oz container of dried thyme and artistically sprayed it across the floor and decided I should probably sit down and breathe for a while.

BabyBoy is off to camp tomorrow, so we've been doing laundry and filling out forms all day (really ALL DAY--I think the last time I really did concentrated laundry was somewhere in the middle of Beach Week. The 7th (and LAST, YAY) load is in the dryer now (not counting sheets and towels other than those necessary for camp) so the end is nigh, tfg) and there was a run to the grocery store early this morning, as every time I went to make something once we got home from NYC, I couldn't find half of what we needed and I am tired of take-out.

But! let's talk about food, yes? Mostly I want to talk about it b/c I want to whine about the reservations I ended up canceling when it was for sure BabyBoy coming with me, not D. I mean, on the one hand, BB eats very adventurously (much moreso than his father), but on the other, I'm not quite ready to take my 16 year old to restaurants with Michelin stars.

So, it was with Great Regret that I canceled reservations for Peter Luger Steakhouse (for D) and Le Bernardin (for me.) It's been more than 2 weeks since I canceled them and I still weep. An 8 p.m. Friday night reservation at Peter Luger! 8 p.m. (::weeps::) I don't want to talk about having to let go a table at Le Bernardin on Saturday night.

sigh

It was fine, I know, I know, this is hardly a real world problem. We shifted to a much more casual and open plan, and I think it worked really well. We did MoMA's free Friday hours (terribly crowded but still worth the walk) and then went to Toalache on Friday night, which was super-fun and very very good, even if we didn't find the courage to try the grasshopper tacos. (Apparently, BB can eat anything off an Asian menu, even if it has tentacles, but he drew the line at grasshoppers.) We mostly ate breakfast at the hotel (it came with the room, and ended up being room service which was a terrific timesaver, too.) On Saturday, we walked from Times Square down to the Strand, stopping at Bryant Park, where he wandered around and bought I know not what while I made the obligatory visit to the library. And then we spent some ridiculous amount of time at the farmers/green market at Union Square, where he zeroed in on anyone who had anything that looked immediately edible, especially the bakers. He did pretty good. But I did walk him a long way that day, so we had to detour to 8th Avenue on the way back, where there was a street fair in progress so he could eat MORE, despite early reservations for pre-theater dinner. 28" waists fall off him, too. So not fair.

Dinner that night was Becco on 46th Street, which satisfied some serious Italian cravings. And somehow, after having spent the better part of 2 days with me (AND having Pokémon Go on his phone) he managed to behave well enough that the ladies at the table next to us (all 60+) felt the need to tell me what a well-brought up young man he was (I decided they probably hadn't actually heard our conversation, as it centered on League of Legends (he's ranked pretty high), Orange Is The New Black, and the afore-mentioned Pokémon Go. But hey, we'd already had our political and social conversation while sitting in various airport lounges with CNN on constant loops.)

Breakfast on Sunday included both the room service stuff and a uber down to Russ & Daughters for actual NY bagels and schmear. It was Good. And then we came back up to Times Square so my geeky, Daredevil-loving kid could say he'd walked through Hell's Kitchen on the way to the Intrepid, before we walked over to see Wicked. Spoiler alert: there were treats at intermission. We didn't eat an actual lunch or dinner (after all that, you're shocked, I know) but we hung out on the 8th floor, outdoor lounge at the Marriott Marquis overlooking Times Square and grazed through their (so-so) apps menu (but the view was great and our server was the nicest woman in the world), until someone who is not me had their phone die from too much Pokémon hunting while doing all this walking. The weather, btw, was amazing--almost too cool but just fabulous.

Also, the AmEx Centurion Lounge at LaGuardia is worth the hassle of getting to Concourse B if you need food/drink/a computer/printer. They have actual food. And they pour great booze, just sayin'. (That's a whole other story, one for later this week or next.)

So, babbling about all this calmed me down and got me back to where dinner was a possibility. (First time doing pork chops sous vide and omg, so freaking good!) Cookies to all of you who've made it this far! ♥ ♥ ♥